Joe Martin Stage Race

The first stage of the Joe Martin Stage race was a 112km point-to-point road race starting at Natural Dam and finishing in the centre of Fayetteville. The organisers transported all 31 riders to the start on buses. I admit to being a little surprised by such a small field for a National Road Series race but decided many riders were either taking a break from racing or perhaps did not wish to risk the tornadoes that had been affecting parts of Arkansas.

It was a long bus ride to the start, and we were all drinking so much fluid to stay hydrated that we had to request a "nature stop" half way out. The convoy of race officials following our bus didn't know what to do when we all piled out and squatted on the edge of the highway.

Our race got underway at 2.30pm and due to the high humidity and heat we were able to feed from the Commissaire's car at any time as well as at the neutral feeding zone at the 65km mark.

Defending tour winner, Lynn Gaggioli (Velo Bella) and Sue Palmer-Komer Genesis Scuba / FFCC, who recently finished 2nd in Fleche-Wallone World Cup race were the two strongest riders and I made a point of marking them both from the start. The race started out quite slowly which was partially due to the heat as well as the 4,500ft of climbing that lay ahead.

At the 50km mark the road started to climb steadily. Gaggioli attacked hard and Palmer-Komer jumped straight on. I was on Joan Wilson's (TDS) wheel as she and I made it across the gap. The effort to get across had hurt Joan with a gap slowly opening in front of her. I jumped in front of her and took Sue's wheel. I could hear someone breathing hard behind me and hoped it was Joan settling in behind me. After 3 or 4 minutes of unbelievable pain as I was riding above my threshold pace, I glanced behind me and apart from one other rider on my wheel, there was no-one there. We had ridden away from the entire peloton and were out of sight. Lynn was continually standing up and attacking from the front and it was all I could do to sit on her wheel. I lasted another 5 minutes or so and then blew up. The rider on my wheel was also gapped off and we worked a little together until a group of 8 caught us.

We reached just over 2000ft in altitude at the 64km mark and this was the last of the major climbs finished. After a long descent, the road was generally undulating with a strong cross tailwind. Our chase group was averaging 48-55km/hr but the time gap to the break continued to hover around 2 minutes.

After a few attacks from within out group, we decided to work together to minimise the time gap that the break had established. Two of the Genesis riders, with their team mate, Palmer-Komer in the break, had been sitting on the back of our chase group and were both fresh for the sprint for 3rd place.

Candice Blickem (USA) Genesis Scuba / FFCC drove it hard up a steep little climb 400m from the line with Amy Moore (Saturn) and myself on her wheel. Neither of us was unable to come around her so I had to be content with 5th place, nearly 3mins down on Gaggioli and Palmer-Komer. My other team-mates suffered today in the hills and all finished 12mins37sec down.

Results:

Today's road stage started at 8am and after finishing yesterday's race at 6pm we didn't get a lot of recovery time. However, I woke up feeling fresh and ready for two hard stages.

The 110km road course started and finished in Fayetteville. We headed 18km out of town on old highway 71 into a block headwind before turning left onto a 37km circuit. We rode two laps of this circuit, which included 1,500ft of climbing per lap, and then returned to Fayetteville on highway 71 again. Lynn Gaggioli (USA) Velo Bella attacked hard up the feed zone climb and 8 of us went with her. A number of counter attacks caused our overall pace to slow down and shortly most of the peloton had weaved through the cars and were back on.

On the 2nd lap up this same climb, Gaggioli attacked again. Amy Moore (USA) Saturn jumped on Susan Palmer-Komer (Can) Genesis Scuba / FFCC and together they got onto Gaggioli's wheel by the top of the climb. I was riding behind Joan and erroneously I grabbed a neutral water bottle just as Gaggioli was driving hard over the top. Joan and I were only 40m off the back of the break but on a false flat and into headwind we weren't able close the gap. As the road descended I drove it hard but the 10sec gap was established and with 7 riders in our group initially happy to let TDS chase, the gap quickly opened up to 45 seconds.

Our group soon got organised and starting working well together. I was annoyed at having missed the break because I felt great. I realised now that it was more important to get across to Gaggioli's wheel than take a feed. That decision to grab a bottle effectively cost us the 3rd GC position. Each time I pulled through in our chase group I was soft pedalling to avoid pulling a harder than anyone else. The only fresh person in our group was Fleury, a Genesis rider who for the 2nd stage in a row was sitting on our group with her team-mate in the break.

At 5km to go I attacked up a climb but the chase group immediately closed the gap and sat on me. I waited until 2km to go and then dropped off the back of our group to wind it up. I attacked up the left side of the road as hard as I could. I had a gap but hoped I could hold it for 2km. The Genesis rider took off after me and the group caught me with 500m to go. I jumped back in but had nothing left for the sprint. I concentrated on holding a wheel as we came in to avoid any time gaps opening up and had to settle with 11th place.

My team-mate Emily finished just over 6mins down, while the other TDS riders, Shawn and Christine were 12mins and 19mins down, respectively.

Results:

After a few hours rest we drove for an hour in heavy rain to the start of the uphill time trial. As we pulled in to the parking lot, the hail started as well as lightning and thunder. We sat in the car wondering if the officials would cancel or postpone our race.

Luckily, the hail eased and the steady rain was not enough to deter the officials from pressing on. My scheduled start was just after 5pm. We made friends with a guy who owned an RV and set the trainers up under his annexure to warm up. My legs felt like bricks and I needed a good 40 minutes on the trainer to ease out the soreness.

I have always advocated to pre-ride a time trial course. This way you know exactly what is up ahead and it is easier to plan your level of exertion. Pre-riding the course also helps you to plan out whether to start in the big ring and what gear is best to ride it in. Well, today I didn't pre-ride the course and I only have the rain as my feeble excuse. I relied on another riders feedback as to how steep it was and what to expect. Needless to say, I am learning from my mistakes.

The gradient of the climb according to our race bible was 6.8%. It was certainly steeper at the start but levelled out a lot towards the top. I was the 4th starter and after catching both Shawn and Emily by the 2km mark I then lost my rhythm. I usually count each right pedal stroke and this helps me keep a certain cadence but I forgot to do this today and had trouble staying focused. I finished 1min15sec down and slipped back into 9th on GC.

Results:

The criterium course was a 1.5km anti clockwise loop with 12 corners and 3 climbs per lap. The first downhill corner after the start/finish line was a left off camber 90 degree turn. Taking this corner near the front was a lot faster and smoother so I tended to ride most of this race in the top 5 positions.

The race was aggressive with a number of attacks from Genesis and TDS, however all attacks were shut down and at 2 laps to go it looked like it would come down to a field sprint. Just before bell lap, Candice Blickem (Genesis) and Lynn Gaggioli (Velo Bella) attacked from the back of the field down the back straight. Shawn (TDS) was sitting on Blickem's wheel and went with the attack. Unfortunately, Shawn was unable to hold the wheel and she was gapped off as they took the bell with one lap to go.

Amy Moore (Saturn) took up the chase while I sat 2nd wheel hoping Shawn would drive it hard and take 3rd. With two corners to go I knew Shawn wasn't going to hold us off. Magen Long (OBRU) attacked down the right side of the road at the moment I hesitated and should have attacked myself. I jumped on her wheel and she lead through the final corner and held me off to take 3rd, with Gaggioli taking the win from Blickem. Hannos (RONA-Esker) pipped me right on the line giving me 5th for the race.

I was very disappointed with the race, knowing that sitting in the peloton and hoping Shawn could hold us off wasn't the right decision in this case. To add salt to the wound, Magen's podium finish gave her a time bonus which moved her ahead of me in the overall GC pushing me back to 10th overall, 7mins5 seconds down.

I learned a lot from this race and will make sure I race smarter in my next tour. I am now heading back to San Diego for a 3 week climbing block before flying east again in late May for a 6 week racing block.

Final General Classification: